fiber and resin composite structural members

ABSTRACT

A mooring whip made from a fiber reinforced bar is disclosed. The bar has an upper surface and a lower surface. A tapered, wedge shaped piece including the lower surface is removed to produce a tapered whip in which reinforcing fibers adjacent to the upper surface remain intact along the length of the whip. A mooring whip base comprising a receiver for receiving the base of the mooring whip is disclosed. The receiver is mounted for pivotal movement between two walls.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is a structural member made of a resin and fibercomposite material. More particularly, the invention is a structuralmember that has a cross section that varies along its length and itsflexural stiffness varies correspondingly along its length. Thestructural member can be produced by removing a tapered piece,preferably a wedge-shaped piece, from an untapered piece of stock,preferably a rectangular or square prism. It is especially well suitedfor use as a mooring whip.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Mooring whips have, traditionally, been produced from cylindrical fiberand resin composite structural members made by a pultrusion process,with longitudinally extending fibers embedded in a resin matrix. Thepultruded cylinder is then tapered to produce a structure like the oneshown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,831 (Fulton) with a rigid base, at one end,and a reduced diameter flexible tip at the other end, with a crosssection that varies along its length from biggest at the base tosmallest at the tip. Tapering a pultruded fiber reinforced rod involvesa centerless grinding operation, although the Fulton patent is silentabout the tapering process applied to the rod described in his patent.The centerless grinding operation, however, cuts through fibers aroundthe periphery of the rod and this weakens the structure. Centerlessgrinding also produces vast amounts of waste in the form of sludge,i.e., water and dust, which, in turn, produces disposal problems oflarge magnitude.

Mooring whips are commercially available under the Overton's trademarkDockmate and under the Taylor Made Group's Boatguard trademark. Thesewhips are tapered rods of fiber reinforced resin, virtually unchangedfrom the days of Fulton.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The instant invention is based upon the discovery of a new mooring whipconstruction and a new mooring whip base. In its simplest embodiment,the mooring whip is a fiber reinforced bar having an upper surface and alower surface. A wedge shaped piece including the lower surface isremoved to produce a tapered whip in which reinforcing fibers adjacentto the upper surface remain intact. The base comprises a receiver forreceiving the base of the mooring whip and the receiver is mounted forpivotal movement between two walls.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an improvedflexible tapered fiber reinforced resin member suitable for use as amooring whip.

It is another object to provide such a member in which reinforcingfibers adjacent to an upper surface are undisturbed over the length ofthe member.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved mooringwhip made of such a member.

It is yet a further object of the invention to provide an improvedmooring whip base for mounting a mooring whip.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent to one skilled in the artfrom the description herein, reference being made to the attacheddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a view showing a boat moored to a pair of one piece mooringwhips, according to one embodiment of the invention, with the whipssecured to supports which are, in turn, secured to a dock.

FIG. 2 a is a perspective view of a one-piece mooring whip according tothe invention.

FIG. 2 b is a second perspective view of the one-piece mooring whipshown in FIG. 2 a.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a two piece mooring whip according to theinvention.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the mooring whip shown in FIG. 3taken along the line 4-4.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a mooring whip base showing the mooring whipsupported therein.

FIG. 6 is an end view of the mooring whip base shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of another embodiment of a mooring whipaccording to the invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view of yet another embodiment of a mooringwhip according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now in more detail to the drawing figures and especially toFIG. 1, each of two mooring whips indicated generally at 10 comprises afirst, base end 12 and a second, free end 14. The base ends 12 aresupported in bases, indicated generally at 16, which are secured to adock D. The free ends 14 support fittings 18 including guides 20slidingly supporting lines indicated at L. One end of each of the linesL is connected to or tied off at the bow or the stern of a boat B andthe other end of each of the lines L is tied off to a cleat or the like,adjacent to the dock D, for example. There is illustrated an example ofsuch a cleat 22 which is mounted on the whips 10, near the first baseend 12. Alternatively, the line L can be tied off to a cleat (not shown)mounted directly on the dock or any other secure structure.

The mooring whips 10 are flexible and thus, even when the first, baseends 12 are fixed, the whips 10 are able to flex to accommodate verticalmovement of the free ends 22 of the whips 10 due to variations in thetension in the lines L which are secured to a vessel on the water. Suchtension variations might come at regular intervals for example, in saltwater, when the tide rises and falls, raising and lowering the vessel asshe sits in the water. Such tension variations may also arise on freshwater lakes from evaporation or heavy rainfall and on rivers fromvariations in the river's gage height. Of course, waves on any waterwill vary the tension in the mooring lines L, too.

A blank 30 produced from a stock bar which was a right square prism madefrom a fiber and resin composite is shown in FIGS. 2 a and 2 b. Thestock bar had a uniform cross-section, and was preferably produced by apultrusion process wherein continuous fibers are dipped in resin andpulled through a die which is shaped to give the pultruded stock, inthis case, its square cross section. The die is heated to cause orpromote polymerization of the resin. The process produces longitudinallyextending pultrusions with reinforcing fibers extending longitudinallyin the products. The cross-sectional shape of longitudinally extendingproducts produced by pultrusion is determined by the shape of theopening in the die or dies through which the resin dipped fibers pass.Pultrusion has been practiced for decades to produce fiber reinforcedcomposite materials with uniform cross-sections and need not bedescribed here further.

The blank 30 was produced from the stock bar by the removal of ageometric wedge 32 from the stock bar. Referring to FIGS. 2 a and 2 b,the geometric wedge 32 is shown in dot-dot-dash lines. Accordingly, theblank 30 is represented by the solid lines, and the stock bar is shownwhen the dot-dot-dash lines replace the adjacent solid lines.

The stock bar, cut from a pultrusion, has four opposed rectangularfaces, one of which, designated 34 in FIGS. 2 a and 2 b, is also arectangular surface in the blank 30. The other three of the opposedrectangular faces of the blank 30, designated 35, 36, and 37, have therectangular shape adjacent one end of the blank, but all three have beencut by the cutting of the stock bar to remove the wedge 32. The blank 30is weakened as a consequence of its being cut to remove the wedge 32.Specifically, reinforcing fibers that were adjacent to the side 35 havebeen cut. However, the resin and longitudinally extending reinforcingfibers adjacent to the side 34 remain intact. The stock bar also has twoopposed ends, one of which, designated 38 in FIGS. 2 a and 2 b, is alsoan end of the blank 30. The other end, however, designated 40, issmaller because of the taper of the blank 30. The surface 34 is alsoreferred to as an upper surface because, in the mooring whipapplication, the surface 34 faces generally upwardly in use. The removalof the wedge 32, which is tapered, causes the blank 30 to be tapered,i.e., thicker at the end 38 and thinner at the end 40. The wedge 32 isshorter than the stock bar and, as a result, a portion of the blankadjacent to the end 38 is not tapered. The wedge 32 is preferablyremoved by cutting and a saw is a preferred cutter for this operation.Unlike centerless grinding, however, cutting with a saw to remove atapered wedge 32 to create a tapered shaped blank 30 does not reduce todust all of the removed material. Indeed, the wedge 32 becomes scrap butis much more easily disposed of than the sludge (water and dust)produced by the centerless grinding operations previously used toproduce tapered mooring whips.

When the wedge 32 is removed, as by cutting, the saw will cut thelongitudinally extending fibers that are adjacent to the surface 35.However, the fibers adjacent to the surface 34 will remain intact.Accordingly, when the thick end of the blank 30, adjacent to the endface 38, is fixed and a force is applied to the thin end, adjacent tothe end face 40, in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 b, the blank 30will bend and the undisturbed, longitudinally extending reinforcingfibers (not shown) that are adjacent to the upper surface 34, will beplaced into tension, a condition in which they will contribute as muchas they possibly can to the structural integrity of the blank 30. Incontrast, in the prior art case where a uniformly cross-sectioned fiberreinforced rod is subjected to centerless grinding, the longitudinallyextending fibers adjacent to the outer, upwardly facing surface are allgoing to be cut, thereby preventing them from reinforcing the taperedrod that is produced.

Turning now to FIG. 3, an extended mooring whip 50 is shown and it is acomposite mooring whip consisting of a first base section 52 and a tipsection 54. The base section 52 is connected to the tip section 54through a coupler 56 which grips a portion of the base section 52 aswell as a portion of the tip section 54. Practical considerationssurrounding the modern transportation and warehousing of products makeit practical to keep products under eight feet in length. However, inmany applications, mooring whips should have a total length thatsignificantly exceeds eight feet. It is preferred in those cases toproduce the mooring whip in two or more sections and join the sectionstogether on site.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the base section 52 is not taperedand the tip section 54 is tapered over most of its length. A portion 58of the base section 52 is received in the coupler 56. An untaperedportion 60 of the tip section 54 is also received in the coupler 56. Thecoupler 56 comprises a channel that is U-shaped, in cross-section, asshown in FIG. 4. A plurality of headed bolts 62, one of which is shownin FIG. 4, each has a threaded shaft 64 which extends through openingsin the coupler 56 and cooperates with a nut 66 to clamp the coupler 56around the portions 58 and 60 of the sections 52 and 54, therebysecuring each section 52 and 54 to the coupler 56 and, therethrough, toeach other. A thread adhesive or anti-reversing nuts could be used. Inthe cross-section of portion 58 of section 52, shown in FIG. 4,longitudinally extending reinforcing fibers 68 embedded in a resinmatrix indicated at 70 can be seen.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, a base, indicated generally at 80 isillustrated and it is operable to support a mooring whip 82 in aplurality of angular positions. The base 80 comprises a first wall 84and a second wall 86 and they are secured to a board Bd through flanges88 and 90, respectively, by fasteners 92. The walls 84 and 86 aresecured to each other by assemblies 94 which comprise a first bolt 96, asecond bolt 98 and an internally threaded sleeve 100. The bolts 96extend through holes 102 in the first wall 84 and engage sleeves 100 andthe bolts 98 extend through corresponding holes (not shown) in thesecond wall 86 and engage sleeves 100.

A base end 104 of the whip 82 is secured to and supported in a U-shapedreceiver 106 to which a sleeve 108 is secured as by welding. A pin 110is supported on the walls 84 and 86 and, in turn, the pin 110 supportsthe sleeve 108, the receiver 106 and the base end 104 of the whip 82 forpivotal movement to an angular position so that the free end (not shown)of the whip 82 is positioned at a desired location over the water. Thebase of the whip 82 is held fast in the receiver by a threaded fastener111. Once the desired angular position for the whip 82 is determined, itcan be supported in that position with a whip rest which comprises awheel which comprises a resilient outer wheel 112 mounted on a hub 113which, in turn, is mounted on a clevis pin 114 which, in turn, issupported on the walls 84 and 86 in a hole 102 in wall 84 and acorresponding hole (not shown) in the wall 86. A cotter pin 116releasably holds the clevis pin 114 in place. The number of holes 102 inwall 84 (and corresponding holes in wall 86) provides for a great dealof adjustability when setting the angle of the whip 82. The wheel 112 ismade of a resilient material to absorb forces transmitted through thewhip 82.

When a mooring whip according to the invention is set into a base, at anangle, the whip will have at least one surface facing generallyupwardly. This surface may be flat or not. It may be simple or compound.According to the invention, this surface, which will be referred toherein as an upper surface, will have longitudinally extending,uninterrupted, reinforcing fibers adjacent to it and will not haveinterrupted reinforcing fibers next to it. At least a portion of thewhip will be tapered and the whip may be used in other applicationswhere flexural strength is desired in a structure which is more flexibleat its tip than at its base. For example, a fishing rod could beconstructed from a suitably sized blank which has been tapered by theremoval of a wedge shaped or otherwise tapered piece.

Alternative cross sections for the whip or a stock bar from which a whipin accordance with the invention can be produced are shown in FIGS. 7and 8. The flat shape of the surface 34 (FIG. 2) of the whip 10 is notessential to the performance of the whip, but the flat shape is easy toproduce, and performs satisfactorily. FIGS. 7 and 8 show alternate crosssections for fiber reinforced bars 118 and 120 from which mooring whips,tapered or partially tapered as described above, can be produced.

It will be appreciated that considerable variation from the specificdetails of the invention as disclosed above is possible withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof as defined in the followingclaims.

1. An article of manufacture comprising a blank, said blank being onewhich is produced by cutting a bar from continuously produced fiberreinforced resin bar stock having longitudinally extending reinforcingfibers and having a substantially uniform cross-section, said bar havingan upper surface and a lower surface, removing a longitudinallyextending tapered piece from said bar, which piece includes asubstantial portion of said lower surface, to produce said blank whereinsaid upper surface of said bar constitutes an upper surface of saidblank and wherein longitudinally extending fibers adjacent to said uppersurface of said blank are undisturbed and wherein longitudinallyextending fibers that were adjacent to said lower surface of said barhave been cut.
 2. The article claimed in claim 1 wherein said uniformcross section is rectangular.
 3. The article claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid uniform cross section is square.
 4. The article claimed in claim 1wherein said tapered piece is at least half as long as said bar.
 5. Thearticle claimed in claim 1 wherein said tapered piece is shorter thansaid blank.
 6. The article claimed in claim 1 in which said bar isuntapered along a first portion of its length and is tapered along asecond portion of its length.
 7. The article claimed in claim 6 whereinsaid second portion is longer than said first portion.
 8. A mooring whipcomprising the blank claimed in claim 1 mounted in a base with saidupper surface facing generally upwardly.
 9. A mooring whip comprisingthe blank claimed in claim 6 mounted in a base with said upper surfacefacing generally upwardly.
 10. A mooring whip comprising the blankclaimed in claim 7 mounted in a base with said upper surface facinggenerally upwardly.